Cooking with sustainable fish

STEVE MANFREDI does his research to make seafood dishes ethical as well as delicious.

When it comes to buying sustainable seafood, we all want to do the right thing. Nevertheless, there is so much contradictory information about fish species that it can be difficult to make informed choices.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has a free app for smartphones and tablets called the Sustainable Seafood Guide. It sorts various species into three categories: ''Say no'' for unsustainable, ''think twice'' for marginal or recovering and ''better choice'' for sustainable. But many species, including gurnard and latchet, are not included.

Assessments about fisheries can be confusing. While the AMCS app rates mulloway as ''think twice'', the Marine Stewardship Council has certified the Lakes and Coorong Fishery in South Australia (mulloway, golden perch, yellow-eye mullet and pipis) as sustainable.

The AMCS applies the ''say no'' rule to all products from open-pen sea cage aquaculture. These are the farmed species such as salmon, trout, barramundi and yellowtail kingfish. But the Australian Conservation Foundation has identified Cone Bay barramundi, farmed using this method in Western Australia, as sustainable.

An Australian website I have found helpful to sort through the information is goodfishbadfish.com.au. It gathers data from all the certifying bodies and lays it out so you can make up your own mind.

smanfredi@smh.com.au

twitter.com/manfredistefano

Vietnamese-style tomatoes stuffed with fish and mushrooms
This dish is inspired by a recipe from Luke Nguyen's book The Songs of Sapa.

12 medium-sized tomatoes, not too ripe
150g button mushrooms, finely diced
350g gurnard fillet, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 eschalots, finely chopped
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs spring onion, finely sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp sugar
2 red chillies, finely sliced
Handful coriander leaves, chopped

Cut tops off tomatoes, scoop out seeds and pulp with a teaspoon, making sure not to pierce the walls. Keep pulp in a separate bowl. In another bowl, combine mushrooms, fish, half the garlic and eschalot and half the fish sauce. Add spring onion, salt and pepper. Knead together well and stuff into tomato shells.

Heat half the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add remaining garlic and eschalot and fry until soft. Add remaining fish sauce, tomato paste and sugar. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, then set aside. Heat remaining oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Fry tomatoes, stuffing-side down, until brown (3 minutes). Turn over and fry for a further 3-4 minutes. Remove tomatoes and keep warm.

Add sauce to pan and simmer for 2-3 minutes, then serve tomatoes with sauce, finishing with chillies and coriander.

Serves 6 as a first course

Wine Gewurztraminer

Corn relish and bottarga on toast

Bottarga is air-dried fish roe, typically tuna or mullet.

1 large cob of sweet corn
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp fresh thyme
Pinch dried chilli flakes
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
6 pieces toast
1 tbs freshly grated bottarga

Using a sharp knife, cut corn kernels from cob. Heat oil in a saucepan and gently fry onion and garlic until soft. Add tomato paste, thyme, chilli and a couple of tablespoons of water and simmer for 5-8 minutes until water has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper. Serve on toast with grated bottarga on top.

Serves 6 for breakfast or lunch

Wine Marsanne

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